Let the hand-made tablecloths you’re afraid will stain be the highlight of the table during this festive season – with our advice you can keep them beautiful and intact for many generations to come.

Like clothes, home furnishings are offered in seasonal collections with real trends in colours and fabrics. For Christmas each year, designers present new ideas, moving from pure white to scarlet and from cobalt blue to colourful embroidery. In order to “keep up with the trend” you would almost need to buy a new tablecloth every year. However, as you are aware, true style never goes out of fashion and – just like a little black dress or a string of pearls – remains elegant, generation after generation. It is exactly the same for fabrics, and your grandmother's embroidered linen or old lace tablecloth has much more charm and fashion than the latest offering in unlikely colours. Linen is an evergreen, a blank canvas on which to create your own personal style with your own “accessories”: a silver candlestick, crystal glasses, dishes in bold colours, or ton-sur-ton in shades of white. Don’t be afraid of dirtying your showpiece – special occasions are ideal settings in which to show off your most beautiful possessions! Tablecloths and napkins can be simple, decorated only with handmade hemstitching, or beautifully embellished with exquisite handmade or bobbin lace – but, above all, they can be returned to their original beauty with just the help of your washing machine. To remove any grey tinges, yellowing or creases that can form on fabrics left in the wardrobe for a long time, use a mild detergent with a high cleaning power. Linen and cotton are resistant fabrics, but lace and embroidery are delicate and could be damaged by high temperatures, therefore it is better to wash them with a detergent that is effective at 30°C and that does not damage the fibres. Choose a gentle wash cycle and if there is any lace or embroidery, protect it from contact with the drum by putting it in a pillow case or a separate laundry bag.

Passion for White is the ideal detergent for washing all hand-made items – it removes dirt and gives a new shine to white fabrics, erasing any greyish signs of creases thanks to its high concentration of optical brightener. Ideal for removing stains caused by proteins, sugars and starches (like those of most foods) from table linen, Passion for White is the trump card for your post-Christmas lunch laundry: no need to worry about clumsy guests because you will be able to remedy every type of stain – even the most tenacious caused by the great festive dishes!

If your tablecloths, doilies and other home textiles are very old and therefore very yellowed with age, they need an “extra” treatment with a specific product: Curtain Whitener is a professional liquid additive for curtains, tablecloths and linens that has been invented to restore even fabrics you thought were unusable artefacts to a bright pure white. Its exclusive formula restores the original white to fibres when other detergents and optical brighteners are not enough. Just add to your normal detergent and wash on a cold wash cycle, because it also acts at low temperatures.

Alternatively, if the fabrics are clean and only need to be refreshed, dilute Curtain Whitener in water and leave the items to soak so that they will shine once again with all their brightness.